Step 1: Commit to your mission

This post describes the hows of starting your mission to Financial Independence. To see how I personally put these ideas into action and started my own mission, check out the from level 0 to level 1 post: committing to Achieving Financial Independence, which includes a free download of a worksheet to get you started on this journey!

It’s exciting times as we are about to embark on our 100 steps mission to financial organization and independence! Or better said: as we have embarked on our mission, as this is our very first step! I hope you’re as eager to start and get your finances under control and set yourself up for successful money management as I am!

I’ll be here to help you along the way and to walk you through the 100 steps that will help you achieve your goal, doing just 1 step at the time. With every step you will feel more and more in control of your finances, as you organize yet another small part of your current, past or future finances. When we get to the end of our mission, you’ll be a finance ninja, managing your money responsibly and you should be well on your way to financial independence.

At times it may be a bit of a rocky ride, one in which you might get overwhelmed by information, feel you’re not getting nearer to your goal, and you might even feel yourself losing your motivation. All of this is totally normal, as if it were easy you’d already have your finances organized and wouldn’t need to join this mission! Don’t give up if this happens to you, it is (unfortunately) just part of the journey. A bit like learning to ride a bike and having to fall off a few times before finally being able to stay on longer and longer until you are a confident bike rider. That too took time and a don’t-give-up-attitude.

That said, we’ve all seen it happen to people who have great New Year’s resolutions: they start with a lot of enthusiasm, but then after a few weeks go back to smoking, eating too much or they stop hitting the gym. Let’s make sure that this won’t happen to you, even if you feel your motivation dipping at times!

So the very first, and also most important step on our journey is making a real commitment to our mission.

You might feel you’ve already committed by reading this blog or maybe you have been thinking about it for such a long time that you feel your mind is completely ready for the challenge. But it’s very important not to skip this step thinking you don’t need to do this if you’re currently über-motivated. You will (trust me!) at some point lose the desire to continue, so do yourself a favour and commit to your 100 steps mission to financial independence right now, now that your desire to do it is at its highest! (Remember those people with new year’s resolutions.. they were once too just as motivated as you are now). So let’s start with our very first action steps!

Step 1 – Commit to your mission – in detail:

We’re going to make a real commitment to our mission, so here are some ideas that you can use directly or get inspiration from to come up with your own ideas. Find what works for you and do it TODAY:

• Write down your intention on a card or post-it, such as: “On a journey to financial independence”, “Getting my finances sorted once and for all!”, “On a mission to financial excellence”, “My 100 steps mission to financial independence”, or something that works for you. Stick the card somewhere where you will see it daily: in your wallet, in your diary, on the inside of the bathroom cabinet, in the car…Find a place that works for you and that reminds you of your new mission a few times a day.
• Write your commitment down on your mobile phone and set daily reminders or alarms to look at your mission to remind you of it.
• Change the screen saver or desktop of your computer with a message to remind you about it.
• Find an accountability partner, be that your partner, a friend, a colleague or anybody else you can think of. Tell them that you are starting this mission and ask them to check in with you regularly to see how you’re doing and to hold you accountable.
• Find a partner who is also willing to start this mission together with you. In that way you can check in together daily and make sure you don’t let each other down. You might even find several people willing to join and you can have your own WhatsApp group for daily accountability checks, or to help each other with the challenges.
• Change your Facebook status to tell others you are starting this mission to make sure you will live up to it.
• Write a short summary in your diary or special notebook, put a status update on your social media platforms, post a photo on Instagram that shows you starting or completing your latest step or even start blogging on every step or every day you have worked towards completing a step. Add the hashtag #100stepsmission to your social media posts so that other people can also find you and see how you’re doing.
• Like the 100stepsmission Facebook page or follow 100stepsmission on Twitter to get frequent inspiration and find other people on the same mission.
• Write an affirmation that you read out every morning and/or evening. An affirmation would be slightly longer than the commitment we wrote above, and could read: “I am committing to getting my finances in order, so that I know I am using my money in the best way possible for both the present as well as the future. Despite the fact that I have neglected my finances for many years and that I have substantial debts or money leaks, I know I am capable of getting back on track and improving my financial status and organization in order to become financially independent”. Make it part of your morning or evening routine to read out the affirmation and you’ll find that with time, you will really start to believe in it and it will help you keep your motivation up and get to your end goal.

As you can see there are many different ways in which to commit to your mission, find out what works best for you: getting other people involved, having a digital or paper log or reminder, using social media and the internet or anything else. Do what works for you and know that if you truly want to get to an organized financial life, there is no going back from here! So pick one or more of the ideas above or add your own and put it in place right now! Remember you’ve already jumped on the ride and got to the first stop, so let’s just fasten our seatbelt and hold on tight as we continue the journey. Oh, and try and enjoy it!

To see how I personally put these ideas into action and started my own mission, check out the from level 0 to level 1 post: committing to my mission, which includes a free download of a worksheet to get you started on this journey!